The only rock band to be spawned by the hipster-intellectual-pioneering Crawdaddy! magazine of my youth (at least the only one with a website we’re coming vow to make it to Rock the Park VIII) is Blue Oyster Cult.
A friendly Face has filed the following about a previous Cult gathering in what was then Westminster Township (wasn’t it?). Should BOC rawk Harris Park in 2011, we can only hope the last blast owes something to spirit of 77 recalled in the following words.
Thanks, as always, to those who send in some fine samplings of London lore.
“From archival materials in my basement, I believe that BOC played at Treasure Island Gardens on Wednesday, June 22nd, 1977. The opening act was Todd Rundgren’s Utopia.
A special feature of the show was the Cult’s laser light show. Soon after it was banned during the U.S. tour for emitting excess radiation.
The encore was a great moment in pre-Spinal-Tap self-mockery. All five members were playing guitars and challenging each other, even the drummer. Someone likened it to a basketball game.
Last I heard, Eric Bloom is involved in some sort of car show.”
Didn’t Ronnie James Dio Era Black Sabbath & Blue Oyster Cult Play @ the London Gardens back in the Early 80′s as
the Black & Blue Tour?
Can’t Find an Archived Tour Date for a London Show but I am almost Positive I saw Both Bands in London Ontario.
BOC appeared in sleepy London town twice – at the Gardens
in 1977 and at Kiplings in the early nineties…..both great
gigs, the latter slightly more laid-back. At this particular show,
the band was drinking beer and taking requests! The 1977
concert was also Todd’s only appearance in London.
I made co-workers drool with envy describing the Kiplings gig. How did we all miss it?
Not sure about this gig with RJDio tour. The Kiplings gig sounds like a classic. I guess Music Hall is the present day equivalent of Kiplings, maybe Cowboy’s Ranch too.
Kiplings was here and gone before we knew it – BOC,
Iggy Pop, Nils Lofgren, Kristofferson……my favourite
memory was seeing the then pubescent Derek Trucks
blow people away in two separate appearances. Oh,
and saw the now missing-in-action Amanda Marshall
for the first time at Kiplings.
Did anybody see this 1977 gig?
If so, please post details – this show isn’t listed on the Hot Rails BOC site [ http://www.hotrails.co.uk ], so it’s a previously “unknown” and undocumented gig and needs to be “brought back into the fold”.
Incidentally, the Kiplings gig IS listed [11 Jan 1989] but no reviews or memories of the show are recorded, so again, if anyone saw this one also, please post details.
The Black’n'Blue tour didn’t pass through London, by the way…
A couple pieces of trivia: The Treasure Island Gardens had been renamed The London Gardens by the 1970s. A crowd of more than 3 200 young people attended the June 22, 1977 performance of Blue Oyster Cult.
Pardon me all to pieces about the proper name of the venue, but I’m using the old ticket stubs for information. As late in the 1970s as The Cars concert of Wednesday, June 13th, 1979, ticket No.0689 noted the venue as “London Treasure Island Gardens.” Perhaps promoters CPI and DKD didn’t press the matter with ticket makers Davis Printing Limited.
Great AFITC! Thank you. I appreciate knowing that while the “London Free Press” was referring to the Gardens as the London Gardens from the late 1960s, the proper name appears to have been London Treasure Island Gardens.
Good point, Dan . . . The Free Press may have used the Gardens for simplicity’s sake . . . we could be perverse in naming things, though — we went through many hoops to avoid calling it St. Thomas assembly plant when writing about the Ford factory . . . it was the Ford plant at Talbotville or something silly like that in Free Press-ease.
Ticket stubs, rawk, Face … thanks for raising the historical bar.
I was at that concert in 1977, it was the first one I had been to. I still remember all the band members playing guitar. I think it was 6$ to get in.
or maybe 8$ , hard to remember , smoking all that cheap mexican weed
Blue Oyster Cult were good at Rock the Park. I can also say it is shock to see Buck Dharma is pretty darn short. He is pretty darn great as a guitarist & it was fun to hear him sing.